If Star Wars isn't your thing, we'll be back with some non-Star Wars related content tomorrow. As always, click to view full size.
Way, way more after the jump...
Star Wars Today
Despite the original Star Wars film being released almost 35 years ago (and since being renamed A New Hope), the Star Wars franchise is as popular today as it has ever been. Everywhere you turn, people are showing their love for the films in more unique and absurd ways:
Admit it - you checked your keyboard quickly after seeing this. We did too, it's ok.
Believe it or not, this GIF gets even more enjoyable when you play 'Party Rock Anthem' on repeat in the background.
Are you trying to tell me you wouldn't give this guy a few bucks?
Is this going no far? No way!
Lightsabers
Even if you don't have lightsabers tattooed on you somewhere, there's no doubt you have thought about how awesome a real lightsaber would be on an almost daily basis. (Marshall Eriksen, played by Jason Segal, from How I Met Your Mother predicts we will be using lightsabers as household tools within 3-5 years.)
Our favourite lightsaber duel of the series was a tough decision. On the one hand, you have a young Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader meeting for the first time in Empire in one of the most influential scenes of all time(more on that later), and on the other you have the immaculate and complex choreography of the fight scenes in the prequel trilogy. Say what you will about the new movies, but man they know how to piece together a lightsaber duel. Don't even try to pretend you weren't impressed by the climactic 2-on-1 duel at the end of Episode 1:
But our favourite duel has to be the final one in the story (so far), at the end of Return of the Jedi. The emotion of a now-powerful Luke Skywalker, combined with an ageing, yet still all-mighty Darth Vader, all in the presence of The Emperor in what has become the conclusion to a 6-part story wins out for us.
Check out the full duel here:
Our Favourites
We can talk all day about how much we love the movies and the stories themselves; but what makes Star Wars even more enjoyable goes beyond a well-written script and advanced cinematography.
Little thing like this:
Initially only a silent blooper, George Lucas actually had the 'thump' sound effect added for the DVD release!!
Or what about Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi (fellas, who hasn't fantasised about the gold bikini at least once?):
The only thing better than Leia in the gold bikini? Leia and her stunt double side by side in their gold bikinis:
And our favourite game to play while watching Star Wars? 'What the hell is thing thing?' We still have no idea:
'That Scene'
It wouldn't take much to argue this is the single greatest scene in the history of cinema. What makes this scene even better, is that the production staff themselves didn't know Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father. Only three people knew - George Lucas, Irvin Kershner (the director) and Mark Hamill, who plays Luke. When Kershner decided to tell Hamill of the twist, according to Hamill, he said "Now I know this, and George knows this, and now you're going to know this, but if you tell anybody, and that means Carrie or Harrison, or anybody, we're going to know who it is because we know who knows."
When they acted out the scene, David Prowse, the man behind Darth Vader's mask in the original trilogy, delivered the line "Obi-Wan killed your father" instead. The secret was kept until post-production, when James Earl Jones had voiced Vader's dialogue.
Of course, That Scene looked nothing like it's final version until well into the production process:
Here's the scene as we saw it - a massive, bottomless shaft with Luke holding on for dear life with his now-only hand. Each of the above images are about as iconic as the characters themselves. Take a look behind That Scene:
All of a sudden, that bottomless pit that Luke falls into doesn't seem so scary.
On another note, look how much photos of production have changed in the last 30 years. From actually creating the set (above) to simply standing in front of a screen. Many would argue this is where Lucas let fans down in the prequel trilogy:
Of course, we all remember how this scene ended (once the CGI had been added). Ewan McGregor delivers one of the most touching moments of the entire series, so incredible that not even Hayden Christiansen could ruin it with whatever-the-hell-it-was he was trying to do. The desperate cries of Obi-Wan Kenobi are probably the single best example of emotion across all six films. The agony and despair of losing Anakin Skywalker, by this time Darth Vader, to the Dark Side was always going to be difficult to portray, and McGregor was more than up to the task.
For all the short-comings of the prequel trilogy, it couldn't have ended on a stronger note:
No Star Wars mega-post would be complete without your submissions, so if you have anything that we have missed today, post it in the comments and we will add it to the bottom of the post.
And, finally, Happy Star Wars Day from Error: Operator.
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